U.S. oil production up, but not on federal lands

A new report by Congress’ research division says U.S. oil production is up under President Obama, but almost all of the expansion of oil production in the U.S. came on non-federal land, not on leases from the federal government.

The report, dated Tuesday and provided to the press late Wednesday by Sen. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican, found that “about 96 percent of the increase [in oil production] since 2007 took place on non-federal lands.”

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The analysis of government projections, done by the Congressional Research Service, also found that total oil production — including both federal and non-federal lands — will stagnate over the next two years. CRS said it will slip from about 5.59 million barrels a day in 2011 to 5.52 million barrels in 2013.

Oil production on federal lands took a giant drop in 2011, falling 275,000 barrels a day. Even with that drop, production is still higher than it was in 2008 — the last full year under President George W. Bush. But the real boost has come on non-federal lands, where production is up more than a half-million barrels a day.